I saw a list of average aircraft ages and noted that Allegiant Air has the oldest average fleet age in the US, if not the world (well over 20 years). I also know they are the most profitable airline in the US, making almost a BILLION dollars in profit last year, with a profit margin of around 20%, compared to an average airlines profit margin of 1%.
Wondering whether these two unique feats were linked, I read their wikipedia page Allegiant Air - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia and SO much of what they do makes complete business sense. They don't try and be the best of anything, they simply do what is the most profitable. They seem to focus more on what other airlines aren't doing what would make money, rather than trying to copy them on things other airlines are making money on.
They purchase very old planes because, while they are not as efficient as new planes, they are a fraction of the cost of a new plane (I'm talking <10%) meaning that even though their fuel and maintenance costs will be higher, they are still wayyyy ahead on profit because they paid hardly anything for the plane in the first place.
The only operate leisure routes so don't have any of the costs of FF programs, lounges, frequency requirements, overnighting crews etc.
They operate mostly out of secondary airports (much lower fees), and have no hubs meaning all their flights are direct and they only have competition on 5 of their 136 routes. This makes it more attractive than having to connect through a legacy carrier hub.
They have no call centre and no availability for travel agents meaning their website handles 100% of bookings. They offer everything from car hire to hotel nights at the destinations when booking raking in massive ancillary amounts as people book their entire holiday through the one website.
They think about where people might like to go for a holiday but don't have the opportunity to. For example, they offer direct flights from cold northern cities to warm, southern ones that no-ones else offers to encourage people to holiday there.
Like JQ they set low base fare prices and then charge for every single other thing but there seems to be more transparency and acceptance of this vs say, the Ryanair model of the passenger being the enemy.
Most of us on AFF will never fly this airline but I found their wikipedia page to be a very interesting read about how an airline actually can make money (and a lot of it), even though they may not be the most popular kid on the playground. I guess they're similar to Ryanair in that everyone complains about their policies and philosophy yet millions of people continue to fly with them and they are very profitable companies.
Wondering whether these two unique feats were linked, I read their wikipedia page Allegiant Air - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia and SO much of what they do makes complete business sense. They don't try and be the best of anything, they simply do what is the most profitable. They seem to focus more on what other airlines aren't doing what would make money, rather than trying to copy them on things other airlines are making money on.
They purchase very old planes because, while they are not as efficient as new planes, they are a fraction of the cost of a new plane (I'm talking <10%) meaning that even though their fuel and maintenance costs will be higher, they are still wayyyy ahead on profit because they paid hardly anything for the plane in the first place.
The only operate leisure routes so don't have any of the costs of FF programs, lounges, frequency requirements, overnighting crews etc.
They operate mostly out of secondary airports (much lower fees), and have no hubs meaning all their flights are direct and they only have competition on 5 of their 136 routes. This makes it more attractive than having to connect through a legacy carrier hub.
They have no call centre and no availability for travel agents meaning their website handles 100% of bookings. They offer everything from car hire to hotel nights at the destinations when booking raking in massive ancillary amounts as people book their entire holiday through the one website.
They think about where people might like to go for a holiday but don't have the opportunity to. For example, they offer direct flights from cold northern cities to warm, southern ones that no-ones else offers to encourage people to holiday there.
Like JQ they set low base fare prices and then charge for every single other thing but there seems to be more transparency and acceptance of this vs say, the Ryanair model of the passenger being the enemy.
Most of us on AFF will never fly this airline but I found their wikipedia page to be a very interesting read about how an airline actually can make money (and a lot of it), even though they may not be the most popular kid on the playground. I guess they're similar to Ryanair in that everyone complains about their policies and philosophy yet millions of people continue to fly with them and they are very profitable companies.
